[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/SfiukUq.png[/img][/center][hr][sub][color=lemonchiffon]Location:[/color] The Hot Springs[/sub][hr][hr]
Tia bit her lip, hesitating at the outskirts of the hot springs. Warm, damp air washed over her, chasing away the cold. She watched the man through the steam. He seemed… careful with his movements. Tia had been a healer a long time — she knew the signs to look for when a person carried pain that they didn’t want to reveal. The odd, precise way his back and shoulder muscles shifted as he listed his arms, like one careless motion might aggravate an injury. The tension he seemed to carry despite his obvious relief at the water. He stripped the rest of his clothes and Tia’s cheeks warmed. She kept her eyes trained on the back of his head, his dark hair saturated with water. 

[color=lemonchiffon][i]Be a professional.[/i][/color]

Nakedness at a spring wasn’t alarming to an Aurelian — especially in the Ember Isles, where the bath culture had been even more intrinsic to worship than it seemed to be on the continent. And if that weren’t enough, Tia had seen [i]more[/i] than her fair share of naked bodies through her work as a healer. She tried to push any stubborn embarrassment to the side — there were more important things to worry about. 

The blood was still stark crimson in the snow. It still painted swirling wisps in the water. 

[color=lemonchiffon]“Sir?”[/color] she tried again as she approached. Her feet found the flat stones surrounding the spring where the heat had melted away the snow. Her hand raised. Hesitating, Tia glanced back over her shoulder. 

For a moment her surroundings shifted — the snowy landscape of steam and ice became the cave. The silver and gold of the moon and temple lanterns became the soft blues and purples of crystals. But when she looked behind her, a nervous hand stretched out towards something unknown and concerning, her name a warning that whispered in her mind — it wasn’t the guard who stared back at her with hard eyes and a tense jaw. The woman in his place, with her vibrancy and beauty, however, seemed no less wary. 

She turned back to the man in front of her, the droplets that trailed down his back stained pink with blood. He was unwell. She saw Ivor and his distress — he’d just… needed a moment. He’d needed someone to reach for him. Worry mixed with compassion as she looked at this stranger, the visitor to the temple grounds that she was meant to steward. 

Tia reached out with a gentle hand and touched the damp skin of his shoulder. 

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[sub][color=lemonchiffon]Interactions:[/color] Nyla Zafira [@The Muse], Vellion Hurst [@Dark Light][/sub]